JAKARTA - Hong Kong's two biggest retail companies began rationing some food and medicine on Friday, to curb the panic buying that has plagued the city for the past week amid fears of a city-wide lockdown, as COVID-19 cases soared. .
Health authorities reported 52,523 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and 136 deaths. This compares with about 100 infections in early February and three straight months of zero cases before the end of December.
This is the third day in a row that the number of cases has reached 50,000. This deployment has limited the workforce available in the health care system, and for public transport, mall operators, supermarkets, and pharmacies.
Supermarket chain ParknShop announced a five-item limit per customer for staples such as rice, canned food and toilet paper. While Watsons pharmacy provides the same limits on medicines for pain, fever, and colds.
"Effective today, ParKnShoP and Watsons Hong Kong will be imposing purchase restrictions on certain products and medicines in all stores," Watsons said in a statement.
Both ParknShop and Watsons are units of Hong Kong-listed conglomerate CK Hutchison.
On Wednesday, ParknShop announced shorter opening hours, with some of its 200 branches closing at 3pm. By then many stores across Asia's financial hub, had been missing out on fresh and frozen meat and vegetables in recent days.
Meanwhile, mall operator HKTV said in an exchange filing on Friday, about 20 percent of Hong Kong's "frontline workforce" was in quarantine.
Separately, a Hong Kong court, citing health risks, said court hearings would be suspended between March 7 and April 11, with some exceptions, including bail applications, as well as cases involving people in custody and child protection.
Previously, Hong Kong officials had repeatedly urged people not to make panic buying this week, saying supplies were sufficient.
Amid public complaints about confusing official messages, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said her government had no plans for a "total lockdown", while planning mandatory testing of the city's 7.4 million residents. The government will announce the details of the plan when it is completed, he said.
The spike in cases and fears of lockdowns have sparked mass departures of people from the city, where authorities are sticking to a 'zero dynamic' policy that seeks to eradicate all outbreaks at all costs.
Hong Kong saw an outflow of more than 71,000 people in February, the most since the start of the pandemic, according to government data, compared with 16,879 in December.
On the other hand, flight bans from nine countries including the United States, Britain and Australia are in effect until April 20, leaving some residents who have left temporarily stranded, unable to re-enter.
Many restaurants and shops are closed, while the Central financial district is very quiet and few people go out in a normally bustling neighborhood.
Highlighting growing public frustration, prominent businessman and government adviser Allan Zeman said on Tuesday Hong Kong's international reputation had been "deeply damaged" and alarm had been raised by the confusing messages.
To note, Hong Kong has reported around 400,000 cases of COVID-19 since the coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and around 1,500 deaths. Much less than many other cities. Most of the infections and deaths were recorded in the past month.
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